Barbara Veneri: Ryan Walsh and take top spot in Tower Race

Sunday

Jul 16, 2017 at 6:55 PMJul 16, 2017 at 6:55 PM

By Barbara VeneriContributing Writer

Ryan Walsh and crew aboard his custom-built 36-foot yacht Next captured the top spot in the Parker Converse Tower Race, hosted by the Beverly Yacht Club on Saturday, with a corrected finish time of eight hours, 29 minutes and 25 seconds. Walsh sails out of the New Bedford Yacht Club.

The 49th annual Tower Race is one of several races included as qualifiers for the Buzzards Bay trophy for handicapped (PHRF) boats this season. Sixteen boats registered for the Tower Race, with 13 boats completing it. The race takes competitors around the Buzzards Bay tower and through both Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound on a course that starts and finishes off Centerboard Shoals, with boaters crossing the finish line in the evening or night (or overnight) of race day.

Chuck Fontaine of Mattapoisett, skippering Cepheus for Massachusetts Maritime Academy, placed second in eight hours, 37 minutes and two seconds, followed by Steve Dahill of the BYC aboard Riva in third place at nine hours, 19 minutes and 54 seconds (all times corrected). Butch Joy of the Mattapoisett Yacht Club, Ed Lobo of the Low Tide Yacht Club and Matthew Schmitt of the Buzzards Yacht Club battled it out for seventh place, with Joy edging out Lobo and Schmitt, who finished in a tie, by 31 seconds on corrected time.

Beverly Yacht Club junior racer Jonnie Ciffolillo took third place in the Opti Blue division and sixth place overall in the Optimist dinghy races at the Edgartown Junior Regatta last week.

Outside Edgartown Harbor, 47 junior Optimist racers competed in eight races in three fleets (based on age): Red, White and Blue, with additional first-timers competing in the Green fleet. Twenty-two boats competed in the Blue fleet; 24 in the Red fleet; and one in the White fleet.

Ciffolillo took first place in the second race (“acing it,” according to his dad Jamie Ciffolillo), accumulating 44 total points in a tie with fifth place overall finisher Matias Martin of the Seabrook Sailing Club. Ciffolillo’s worst race was the sixth, where he came in 19th, but he used that race as his throw out. His next worst finish was 11th in the seventh race, and he also finished with two fourth place finishes.

Another BYC junior, Drew Mastovsky, took 10th place overall and sixth place in the Opti Red fleet, with a first-place finish in the first race and three top-10 finishes for a total of 69 points. Luke Tougas, also a BYC junior, took 11th place in the Blue fleet and 26th place overall with his highest finish a 17th in the eighth race, scoring a total of 173 points.

The Green Opti fleet was dominated by racers from the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club, with no juniors from Southcoast clubs entered.

In the Club 420 races, Santiago Hirschmann and Joseph Russo of the New Bedford Yacht Club placed a respectable sixth out of 47 competitors, taking second place in Races one and seven and placing in the top 10 in four other races for a total of 60 points. Anthony Root and Sadie Thomas of the NBYC placed 17th in the Club 420 races, scoring 173 points.

John Egger and Stefan Hulsebosch of the BYC placed 41st with 273 points, followed by Jack Murray and Sophia Clingman of the BYC with 281 points.

Nearly 150 juniors from many clubs on the Cape, the aforementioned juniors from the BYC and the NBYC, and several from other New England clubs, schools or unaffiliated took part in the three-day regatta, which ran from Thursday June 13 through Saturday, June 15.

BYC Junior Regatta set for August

While we’re on the subject of junior sailing, the Beverly Yacht Club 54th Annual Invitational Junior Regatta is set for Monday, Aug. 14 through Wednesday, Aug. 16 at the BYC on Front Street in Marion.

Area sailors to compete in Edgartown

Coming up Thursday through Sunday are the Round the Island and Round the Buoy races for PHRF sailboats, hosted by the Edgartown Yacht Club.

Registered to race in the RTI in the double-handed division is Matt Wordell of the Mattapoisett Yacht Club aboard Ruckus, a Tartan Ten (30+ feet). In the IRC division, Tom Seldorff’s Kinship, a Baltic 52 out of the NBYC, is registered.

In the PHRF division, Doug Curtiss aboard Wicked 2.0, a J-111, is set to race, along with Mark Verville of the BYC aboard Isurus, a J-120. Also racing in the RTI is Ed Dailey of the BYC aboard Raptor, a J-109; Steve Dahill of the BYC aboard Riva, a J-35C; Cam Tougas of the BYC aboard Kanga a 34-ft. Peterson sloop; and Ira Perry of the NBYC aboard Seefest, a J-29.

In the RTB races, Bob Ryan of the MYC is set to race aboard First Light, a Pearson 35, in the PHRF spinnaker class along with the team of Andy Reservitz, Eric Wagner and Ned Joyce of the Buzzards Yacht Club aboard Dark ‘n’ Stormy, a J-105.

In the non-spinnaker class, Fred Trezise of the BYC is racing Grace, a Hinckley SW 50, and Robert Sears of the NBYC is racing Godspeed, a Catalina 36.

The registration fee for all classes in the RTI is $400, and registration closes Friday, July 21 at 9 a.m. with late entries accepted ($50 late fee) at the discretion of the EYC. The RTI race begins with the first warning signal at 8 a.m. Saturday July 22. The race is sailed around Martha’s Vineyard in Nantucket Sound, the Atlantic Ocean and Vineyard Sound.

The RTB races are held Thursday and Friday, July 20-21, with an awards party set for Friday, July 21 at the Anchor Deck. A skipper’s meeting is set for Wednesday July 19 at 5 p.m. There is no entry fee for the RTB, which is a qualifying race for the U.S.-IRC Gulf Stream Series Group 1 Buoy regattas. Entry in the RTI is not required to race in the RTB races. Deadline for entry is Wednesday, July 19 for the RTB races. For more information, go tohttp://www.RTIrace.org or contact raceadministrator@edgartownyc.org or call the EYC at 508-627-4361.

Correction

In last week’s Sea Notes reporting on the New Bedford Junior Regatta, Jonnie Ciffolillo was mistakenly referred to as a female instead of a male. Jonnie’s father, Jamie Ciffolillo, sent an e-mail correction and, with Jonnie's third-place finish in the Edgartown Regatta (see above), father Jamie got his correction and more.

Barbara Veneri writes about boating and sailing for the Standard Times. Contact her at bveneri@hotmail.com

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